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Welcome!

Instead of a “conventional” website, I have setup my campaign site as a blog to engage you!

As you would expect, I have added some “official” election material, such as a biography, IEEE accomplishments, statement, etc but I also see this blog as a way of hearing from you and collecting your views.

I have integrated this website with other tools, such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter; and I hope to collate the views or questions towards refining our IEEE Region 8 operational manual/plan.

As the “official” position statement tends to be restricted in the number of words, I thought I will expand the statement through my home page [download - MP3]:

In my capacity as Vice-Chair: Technical Activities, I have already started the work towards revitalizing Region 8. I wish to take forward my role more holistically in all areas where IEEE has an influence. In this regards, if given the chance: my service as Region 8 Director-Elect will be an important step.

We continue to see IEEE as an organization of its members, run by its volunteers, supported by its staff, for its members, but also for society-at-large. Having travelled through most parts of Region 8, but stationed in South Africa, serving academia but consulting for industry nurtures my day-to-day appreciation for both geo- and technical diversity. In my various roles in IEEE – as a lead volunteer for committees of the IEEE Educational Activities Board (EAB), volunteer for Member and Geographic Activities (MGA) board, ad hoc committees active at the level of IEEE Board of Directors (BoD), making our regional interactions with IEEE Standards Association (IEEE-SA) a “new standard,” having served as IEEE South Africa Section Chair, serving IEEE’s New Initiatives Committee (NIC), chapters/societies and by leading conferences, I remain in the forefront of the IEEE leadership agenda at various international levels. If I am elected as a Director-Elect, I will endeavour to positively expose our regional leadership to levels, which I have benefited from, and hopefully take our regional volunteer leadership to a new height. The growth and development of our key volunteer leaders will benefit our members and membership.

I recognize that the years during my tenure as Director-Elect will be most important: to shape, plan and streamline for deliveries thereafter. Due to my understanding of IEEE both at bottom-to-top and top-to-bottom levels, I am well prepared for this task. Due to this foundation, which I have largely acquired, I believe that I will be able to contribute to the development of our region in an accelerated manner, and re-install the “sense of urgency” as part of our value system. Members, who have synergised with me over the past decade or so, will be able to absolutely vouch for this sense, which several have shown deep appreciation to. I believe in a constructive approach, and quite keen to learn towards developing ourselves in areas where we may be deficient, but also partner to advance others.

In an informal statement, I used the wordings “operationalize strategy.” In this way, we wish to engineer our approach: recursively thinking strategy, and allowing our staff to partner with us in facilitating operations resulting from such strategy. We envisage the partnership will enable our best practices to stand out, and even be adopted or adapted by other IEEE regions globally.

My IEEE involvement enabled my personal development, serving as an impetus to my professional career. I therefore cherish the contribution and associated value that IEEE student members, graduate student members and more broadly Graduates of the Last Decade (GOLD) can play. By continuing to interact with various IEEE member grades, in particular our life members, fellows and emeritus directors, we will continue to leapfrog in our wisdom.

We all want to see changes in IEEE: from leadership rejuvenation, transnationality, to a better value preposition for member dues. I serve the IEEE and with your support, we will be the change that we want to see in our organization. We adopted the tag line: “Advancing technology for humanity,” and this could catalyse towards organic development, allowing for a better understanding of geographic, cultural, political, economic and technical diversity in our region.

I look forward to being an instrument for the referred empowerment of our members and “army of volunteers,” which will renew our regional strengths towards delivering the best for our members, but also for humanity-at-large, within a universal, but united IEEE.

Thank you for visiting this page and I look forward to hearing from you!